Desert Essence Thoroughly Clean Face Wash for Oily & Combination skin is made with tea tree oil and the awapuhi plant, along with camomile oil and goldenseal extract. It claims to make your skin more radiant and improve texture. In 2009, it was a winner in the Better Nutrition Best of Beauty Awards.

I picked this up on a whim one day because I was interested in using more natural products for face wash. It was on sale at Meijer and is readily available to me, which is always appreciated. I wasn’t looking for a miracle worker, just something to keep my skin healthy and fresh.

My first impressions weren’t that positive. I didn’t like how it doesn’t lather much, and the smell was admittedly off-putting. It doesn’t smell strong or bad, but it’s not fruity, flowery, or “pretty.” It’s a little stronger than the LUSH Tea Tree toner.

Now that I have been using this product for awhile, my thoughts have changed. I will continue to purchase this over and over again, because my skin likes this stuff. The texture has improved, which is really important to me right now because running in this cold weather, my face takes some major abuse. My skin feels smooth and the natural redness in my cheeks has subdued.

My favorite thing about this face wash is how clean my skin feels. It doesn’t leave a film, and it feels truly cleansed. I don’t suffer from acne, but there are a lot of rave reviews on the Desert Essence website that state this will clear acne. I recommend reading some of these reviews if this is something that you deal with.

This is an incredibly affordable cleanser and won’t set you back much money. I paid $7 for it on sale, but I believe it’s $9 or $10 at Meijer. You can also purchase it from the Desert Essence website.

I love this face wash and wholeheartedly recommend it if you have combination to oily skin, as the formulation states.